Lonely Souls
by IAmStoryteller
Summary: Kirsch's soulmate mark was the worst.


As far as Kirsch knew, the words on his right arm were always there. He remembered his father complaining loudly to his mother once evening (Kirsch was 5 and Mimosa was 1).

"Make sure you cover those words on his arm! It'd be a travesty if anyone other than us saw them," lamented his father. "Ugh, hopefully, the girl will have a better soulmate mark than the boy!"

"The words are just the first impressions! It reads to me Kirsch's soulmate will be able to keep him honest and humble," said his mother. "And will it kill you to use our children's names?"

His parents argued a lot.

They weren't soulmates. Kirsch never saw his father's mark, hidden always by the latest Capital fashions, but in secret, Kirsch's mom showed him hers. One day while his father was away at Magic Parliament when Kirsch was six, his mother had just returned from putting Mimosa down for her afternoon nap and saw Kirsch sadly looking at the words on his own arm.

His mom sat on the floor and pulled him in her lap to snuggle him. "Don't worry, my darling. You just have to prove to your soulmate that their first impression is wrong! Do you want to see mine? But you can't tell Papa, alright?"

"Okay, Mama," replied six-year-old Kirsch, sweetly and enveloped in his mother's embrace, safe from the world and harsh looks from the adults.

His mother removed the band. Her words were around her right wrist, neatly written in soft black script, stating _"Her magic is so awesome!"_ His mom's soulmark was sweet and definitely true in Kirsch's opinion (in both child Kirsch and adult Kirsch's opinion). His mom was a cool Magic Knight. She was in the Purple Orcas as the Vice-Captain. Her magic was steel, just like Aunt Acier and cousin Nozel, and everyone respected her. Mama was always right.

Kirsch had been annoyed that his mother got nice words, while Kirsch didn't.

"Maybe, do you think, my soulmate will be mean, Mama?"

"Oh, darling," said his mother, softly, kissing the top of his head. "I don't think they'll be mean. I think that they might be hurt in the heart when they meet you and have bad thoughts."

Kirsch remembered what he replied. "Then I just gotta hug them to make it okay!"

The soft medley of his mother's laugh echoed in his ears. "Yes! Hugs! Lots of hugs. You give the best hugs, Kirsch, my baby. Whoever your soulmate is, they are the luckiest person in the world."

"Thank you, Mama. I love you!"

"And I love you and Mimosa forever and ever."

Forever and ever only lasted one more year.

Something broke in seven-year-old Kirsch's heart when the Captain of the Purple Orcas came to House Vermillion to give his condolences to Kirsch's father. His mother and a group of Purple Orcas had been on a mission, which had gone horribly wrong. His father took it better than Kirsch and Mimosa did, getting remarried only one month after Kirsch's mother died. Without his mother's guarding him from the worst excesses of royalty in Clover or her guiding hand, Kirsch merely fell in line with his father's commands:

Hide your soulmate mark. Don't show anyone. Train. Study. Look after Mimosa (and keep her own terrible soulmate mark hidden _"She looks weak"_). Keep out of his and his new wife's way.

It was simple enough, especially when the half-siblings were born (the twins, born not with the classic Vermillion hair, but with plain brown hair like Step-Mother. Grandfather had a conniption. It would have been funny if his Grandfather was a harmless old man. Grandfather was scary).

So, Kirsch devoted himself to training his magic and become a Magic Knight and looking after Mimosa. Kirsch had to protect Mimosa. He may have gone overboard, but if showing her all the bad things in the word, all the terrible and ungrateful people, then so be it. She learned to resent him, but Mimosa was all Kirsch had. Mereoleona, Nozel, Fuegoleon were too old and busy to bother with him. Nebra was a right pain. Solid was annoying. And Noelle was Mimosa's age. It was okay that his sister didn't like him. She loved him yes, but he knew she didn't like him.

House Vermillion became stifling the older Kirsch had gotten.

The older Kirsch had gotten, the less he recognized himself. He was a handsome, beautiful even man, one who was a House Vermillion royal with a large mana supply and talent with magic. Kirsch could have anything he wanted. He should have been happy.

But he wasn't.

He had a lot of thoughts why—mostly it was about the loss of his loving mother, the dismissal of his cold-hearted father, the weight and responsibility of being an older brother to a precious young girl like Mimosa, but it was really about the fact that the words on his arm mocked him whenever he uncovered them to wash his arm.

"_**He's just another arrogant royal scumbag. Why am I not surprised?"**_

Was he really that terrible?

When Kirsch turned fifteen, he got his grimoire and joined the Magic Knights. Due to his position, he had the chance to ask every squad for a chance to join. No one took him, not even the Crimson Lions or the Silver Eagles, traditionally squads for the Vermillion and Silva families.

But then came the new Captain, bursting in late, half-asleep, to the meeting to decide Kirsch's fate. Dorothy Unsworth was Kirsch's path to freedom. She brought him to her squad without a fuss. And despite Dorothy Unsworth being a witch from the Witches' Forest and therefore, a non-royal and non-noble, Kirsch greatly respected the cheerful woman. She welcomed him into the Coral Peacocks with open arms and a big smile.

"Just call me your "Big Sis" ok?"

"That's highly inappropriate, Captain Unsworth," replied fifteen-year-old Kirsch, still miffed that he had been passed over by the Crimson Lions and the Silver Eagles. Coral Peacocks was a well-established squad, but it was sort of a joke to the other squads. It was just not impressive sounding and the members were on the weaker side.

Dorothy pouted. "Fine, then! How about we start with "Captain Dorothy", okay? I'm here for you, Kirsch. Well, maybe not all the time, because I sleep a lot but I think you and I are going to get along just well."

"Yes, Captain."

He _excelled_ in the Coral Peacocks. By the time, he was eighteen, he was Captain Dorothy's reliable right-hand man and the Vice-Captain. Being Vice-Captain wasn't a power trip for him. Kirsch genuinely wanted his squad to succeed—he learned to work with other people, even if they were commoners. If he noticed that less and less royals and nobles were taking active parts in the Magic Knights and more and more commoners joined the ranks, Kirsch never said it out loud but he thought it might be a good thing. Different kinds of people brought different experiences.

But Kirsch had an image to maintain. He was royal. Kirsch definitely couldn't be seen sympathizing or palling around with commoners. No, Grandfather and Father would riot. It would be bad. So, Kirsch maintained his professionalism with the junior members of the Coral Peacocks who were commoners, but he wasn't cruel towards them.

Mimosa didn't understand, why he kept with the dismissive comments towards commoners, saying out loud that he thought they were lesser than the noble class, when in reality, Kirsch didn't hate them, nor blame them for being born as commoners with low magic. She hated when he proclaimed his greatness and beauty (thought Kirsch was very beautiful in his opinion). It was harder and harder to connect with his little sister. She came to visit him less and less, the closer she got to her fifteenth birthday and her own path into the Magic Knights.

Failing his sister (and therefore his long-gone mother) was a blow to Kirsch's heart because she was the only person in the world whom he loved. His heart had been broken too many times by then, it just felt like a numbness settling in his chest. He just added a poor big brother to his list of failures.

Kirsch was never prouder when Mimosa had her choice of squads, ultimately choosing William Vengeance's squad, the Golden Dawn. He rested easier knowing that she was in a good place to be mentored.

"Hey, why do you look so sad today, Vice-Captain?"

"Oh, it's nothing, my dear junior, just a bout of melancholy, the beautiful me will persevere!"

"Vice-Captain, you're weird."

Being the Vice-Captain to a regularly sleeping Captain, Kirsch had to do her paperwork and his, keep up on the training and missions of every member of the squad, and kept a chore chart and made sure his squad ate food, but he also had to make sure that Captain Dorothy got to meetings on time. Getting Captain Dorothy somewhere on time was a couple hour endeavor, if his sleeping Captain didn't want not move from her spot. Nonetheless, he had gotten quite good at it. When she was the meeting with the other captains (William Vangeance normally shoved a summary of the meeting in Kirsch's hands so the Coral Peacocks weren't out of the loop), Kirsch was stuck in the other meeting room.

The Vice-Captains of the Magic Knight squads also had separate meetings, but mostly waiting for the Captains to be done. The Vice-Captains were an odd group just like the Captains.

Langris Vaude, the Golden Dawn Vice-Captain, was an asshole, a skilled, talented one.

Finral Roulacase, the unofficial Black Bulls Vice-Captain, had no backbone. (Kirsch was pretty sure that the man was, in fact, the actual Vice-Captain, but he can't be sure since Captain Yami called Finral "his ride" on a regular basis, why the hell were the Black Bulls so goddamn eccentric?). What was worse the two half-brothers couldn't even look at each other or speak to each other, bringing an awkward tense atmosphere to the room.

The Silver Eagles and the Green Mantis' squads had no Vice-Captains. Captain Charlotte's younger sister was the Blue Rose Vice-Captain. Lerola did not talk to anyone in the room, just glared at them all. She was rather unapproachable. Thankfully, the Crimson Lion Vice-Captain Randall Luftair, and the Azure Deer Vice-Captain, Mackenzie Ruford, were both responsible and respectful. Honestly, they were two genuinely good people.

The Purple Orcas' Vice Captain, Xerx Lugner, was a problem. The slightly older nobleman (Xerx was 23) was attractive in a way that Kirsch didn't want to understand because Kirsch was clearly out of the man's league. Xerx regularly went out of his way to blatantly flirt with Kirsch. While Kirsch enjoyed the attention and he was old enough to understand that he was very much interested in men and not women, Kirsch wasn't interested in a relationship and Xerx's family was in massive debt, so the Vice-Captain of the Coral Peacocks took the flirting and attention with a grain of salt. But Xerx paid a bit more attention to Kirsch than Kirsch wanted, sometimes bordering on making everyone in the room uncomfortable.

Still, Kirsch was never going to be with his soulmate, so why not flirt and see people before he was forced into an arranged marriage by his Father?

"Hey, Lord Kirsch," said Vice-Captain Mackenzie Ruford, catching up to him after he left the waiting room, one afternoon after a meeting.

"I don't have time to chat, Captain Dorothy is waiting, Miss Ruford," replied Kirsch. Mackenzie didn't bat an eyelash as she walked faster to keep up with Kirsch. "What?"

"Is Lugner bothering you?"

Startled, Kirsch glanced at the commoner woman. "Why?"

"Listen, I don't want to spread rumors or nothin' but uh," said Mackenzie, looking like she didn't want to say anything. He didn't blame her. Exposing royal and noble secrets never ended well for commoners. "I'm from the town that the Lugner family is in charge of and the Lugner's are in debt, like big debt and I'm pretty sure that the flirting he does with you and the number of other royals is like…you know, him trying to get money for his family. It's really creepy."

Kirsch snorted. "Oh, dear, Miss Ruford. I'm aware. This beautiful man right before you is no fool. But I do thank you for your concern."

Mackenzie sighed, relieved. "You're a lot nicer than you first seem, Lord Kirsch, wouldn't want nothin' bad to happen to you."

Stopped in his tracks, Kirsch clearly looked at his fellow Vice-Captain. "Vice-Captain Ruford, you are an honorable person. I'm not as nice as you think either, but I thank you for the compliment."

After the conversation with the petite woman from the Azure Deer, Kirsch found himself thinking about soulmate marks again, specifically _his_ soulmate mark. He was in his room at the Coral Peacock Headquarters, unwrapping the cloth and pin that kept his words hidden from the cruel, unforgiving world.

At twenty-years-old, he looked at the red words, written messily, on his right arm and wondered if what his soulmate had on _their_ arm. So far, Kirsch hadn't met anyone who'd used that kind of language or someone who was completely dismissive of Kirsch based on his class as a royal.

"_**He's just another arrogant royal scumbag. Why am I not surprised?"**_

Was Kirsch really that bad of a person to get that reaction?

He didn't think he was completely terrible. Well, maybe, according to Mimosa, he was. Who knew anymore?

"Maybe Mama was right. Maybe my soulmate was broken, just like me," he muttered to himself. There were a lot of maybes and Kirsch Vermillion never got anywhere by playing a maybe game.

Kirsch knew there was no use in dwelling on something he couldn't change.

The Eye of the Midnight Sun was one of the most serious problem facing the Clover Kingdom, especially after what happened to cousin Fuegoleon, so of course, Kirsch joined the Royal Knight exams. Entering the Royal Knights exams was also a way to promote the strength and stability of the Coral Peacocks. Captain Dorothy gave her approval of the idea immediately and wished him good luck with a big hug before she fell back to sleep. Kirsch was worried when he saw Mimosa there, not to cheer him on, but to participate herself.

Mimosa was a healer! Not a fighter! How dare William Vangeance and Langris Vaude put his sister in unnecessary danger?!

He watched Mimosa talk with their cousin Noelle, and the two upstart commoner boys (Asta, Yuno, he remembered their names, vaguely). She was smiling so brightly. Mimosa made friends and bonded with Noelle. Kirsch knew that he couldn't take that from Mimosa, she too had already lost so much in her life, having grown up without remembering their mother and feeling insecure about her soulmate mark and her magic affinity and ability.

The teams were announced and Kirsch was stuck with a dumbass Black Bull Knight and a bull-headed Blue Rose Knight. Mohawk and Sister Complex were already arguing with each other. But Kirsch knew how to work with others. He fully intended to win, even with those two idiots.

"Look, Mimosa, we're on the same team! That's great! Oh, who's Xerx Lugner?!"

The loud commoner boy with anti-magic was too loud, but when Kirsch heard the name of his fellow Vice-Captain, he didn't like the idea Mimosa being near him. Xerx's family was in dire straits even more these days, after all, and he was getting more desperate. Too bad Kirsch was not desperate or stupid and therefore, finally (due to support from Mackenzie, who was apparently, his friend now) turned Xerx down.

The anti-magic boy seemed reliable enough to stop any funny business, because of the stories he heard about the kid. He would just have to keep an eye on Mimosa and the ash-blond boy during the exams.

But then someone showed up that was not Xerx Lugner, claiming his name and rank. The Purple Orcas knew, so did the Wizard King and so did Kirsch that this was not Xerx.

The man claimed Xerx's name was devilishly handsome and clearly dangerous red-haired man with a mask covered his lower face. Impersonating Magic Knights was a felony and punishable by death. What was the hot fool thinking pulling this stunt? Was he an Eye of the Midnight Sun member? It would be a waste to lose someone like that over something so stupid.

And, then "Xerx" opened his mouth, to speak and the charm of seeing him for the first time went away immediately for Kirsch. The red head was crass, rude, clearly up-to-no-good and Kirsch had distaste for such behavior.

Losing the match to the too-hot-and-dangerous red head with the killer smirk, his own sister, and a commoner with no magic was shocking to Kirsch, but that was neither here nor there. He had rather not dwell on his latest failure.

It was only a month after the Battle against the Eye of the Midnight Sun and the threat of a devil takeover did Kirsch had a minute to sit down and think about his soulmate yet again. With Mimosa off with Noelle, Asta and Finral to the Heart Kingdom to investigate devils, and Captain Dorothy making more of an effort, Kirsch had gotten some time to relax for a minute.

The words mocked him, but not in the same way as usual. No, normally the words mocked Kirsch and beat down his self-worth and inability to love himself.

"It's not freaking him, is it? My life is a joke, God, huh?"

There was only one person who actively used "royal" as an insult. Zora Ideale didn't like Kirsch too much and the feeling was mutual, sort of. After learning about why Zora took "Xerx" identity or in general, did what he did for Zora's own reasons, Kirsch actually felt like he understood Zora. Zora and Kirsch were able to work together without fighting too much, at least, so that was something positive.

But could Zora be his soulmate?

"_**He's just another arrogant royal scumbag. Why am I not surprised?"**_

The wording read like Zora's thoughts. Kirsch could hear Zora saying it to him, or at least, before the whole thing with the elves. Now, Kirsch liked think that Zora had a bit higher opinion of Kirsch.

Kirsch made a face.

It wasn't Zora. He had to make it _not_ Zora.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Captain Dorothy, you have to help me."

"Kirsch," said Captain Dorothy, sternly. "Soulmate marks are serious magic that should not be touched. There's no way to change it. Soulmates aren't necessarily romantic in nature." Captain Dorothy held out her left palm. There were words on it, Captain Dorothy's words. _"Is she ok? She's been sleeping for a while."_ "My soulmate is platonic. See. Maybe yours is too."

Kirsch stared at his captain, frustrated. "But how can you know?"

Captain Dorothy gave him a sharp look, unlike herself. "I don't know, Kirsch, why don't you talk to them like an adult? That's the only one to know for certain."

Kirsch knew why she had been stern with him and not to take it personally. Because he knew that her soulmate was William Vangeance and Captain Dorothy was still very angry with him about the whole "Patri" and letting an elf soul take over Captain Dorothy's body deal. She had been ignoring him for the last month. One would think that since Vangeance had the mask on, you wouldn't be able to tell the man's feelings at Dorothy's silent treatment. But Kirsch saw the way that the Golden Dawn captain kept glancing and frowning at Kirsch's captain, like the masked man wanted to say something but didn't know what.

"Understood, Captain Dorothy," Kirsch replied, sighing heavily. Captain was always right.

"Good luck."

"Thanks," said Kirsch. And then, because he knew he would be able to get away with it, "Maybe you should take your own advice, Captain, then too."

"…That came back to me quickly, damn."

Finding Zora was a challenge. When Zora did not want to be found, no one could find him. How did someone with red hair, a mask, sharp shark-like teeth, and half-dressed not stand out more?

"Unbelievable, that man," grumbled Kirsch to himself as he flew through the Forsaken Realm skies towards the Black Bulls' base. Visiting there once every day for the last month, hoping that Zora would show his face, was getting rather tiresome for himself and whomever was left in charge of the Black Bulls' base.

It wasn't so bad if Finral answered the door, but the rest of them teased him and annoyed him to no end.

When he landed in the front of the Black Bulls base, it was quieter than normal. It was kind of spooky if Kirsch was being honest with himself. Kirsch approached the base and knocked on the door a few times. Granted, they didn't lock the door since intruders would be drained of their mana by Henry Legolant, but Kirsch had some sense of manners.

The door swung open and Kirsch fucking _died_.

Zora opened the door, finally back at base for the first time in a month. Kirsch wasn't worried about Zora being AWOL for a good long time. No. He just needed to talk to Zora like an adult about soulmates.

It was just that Zora was completely shirtless, his normal mask that made his teeth look predatory was missing (letting Kirsch seen his whole face for the first time, why did God like to torture him), and he had a towel around his shoulders drying his wet red hair clearly out from a shower. And he was glaring at Kirsch. Zora was just too good-looking. It wasn't fair to Kirsch's heart.

"What the fuck do you want," asked Zora. "The dumbasses been tellin' me, you've been lookin' for me."

Kirsch cleared his throat and said, "Ah, right, so I was hoping that maybe I could talk to you."

Zora huffed, but opened the door to the base. "Yer goddamn lucky that me and Henry are the only ones here. The rest of the idiots are on missions, so I'm stuck babysitting this place."

Entering the Black Bulls base without the ton of chaos was unsettling still, and Kirsch's nerves were going haywire in his head. They went to the couch. "So, uh…"

"Never thought I'd see you at a loss fer words, ya weirdo royal."

Kirsch glared at him. He rolled up the sleeve of his shirt and unwrapped his arm. Without warning, he showed Zora the words. "Maybe I just don't know what to say. These words are your first impressions of me?"

Zora blinked, stared at the words and then at Kirsch's face. Paling slightly, Zora said, "What the fuck...?" Kirsch gave him a minute before Zora was shoving his left hand's palm in Kirsch's face. "So, this is you? God really likes to play tricks on me, huh?"

Zora's words were in neat purple script. _**"Oh no, why is someone so dangerous so gorgeous?"**_

Kirsch's face turned bright red, his felt his face was on fire. "Uhhh, well…" They looked at each other for a few minutes not really knowing what to do or say.

"Glad you think I'm good-looking," Zora snickered, breaking the silence.

"For like a minute, then you opened your mouth to speak," retorted Kirsch, not meaning it at all.

Zora snorted again. "Sorry for the shitty words. It must have sucked to think your soulmate thought yer were a useless royal scumbag. But I don't think yer a scumbag or useless, anymore. A dumb royal, maybe, but yer an alright Magic Knight, I guess."

Shaking his head, Kirsch replied, insincerely, "Oh geez, thanks."

"What is this supposed to mean, Kirsch," Zora asked. Kirsch didn't reply. Zora continued, "I can't say for certain that this platonic or romantic. But also, I don't take much stock in this soulmate stuff. My parents weren't soulmates and my dad loved my mom fiercely."

"My parents weren't soulmates either, but they hated each other, I think, and I'm not sure if our soulmate thing is platonic or romantic either," said Kirsch, admittedly. Sighing, he told Zora. "I wish I could say that we had time to figure this all out, but we don't."

"Why the fuck not," demanded Zora, annoyed. "Shit like this can't just be decided easily."

"I'm getting married on my 21st birthday, Zora," said Kirsch, bluntly. "Which is April 24th, so in about two months."

Zora's eyes narrowed. "An arranged marriage?"

"Yes." It was probably the other reason that sent Kirsch searching out Zora so intently. Even though, Kirsch thought he escaped his Father's iron grip, he didn't really. He got the message two weeks ago about his impending marriage to a girl of the right class stock and good magic.

"Fuck."

Kirsch nodded as Zora sat next to him, thinking. While it was clear that neither knew what to do, or if the soulmate thing was that important to a successful relationship, Kirsch wanted a chance.

"So, April 23rd is our deadline, then," said Zora, suddenly.

"What?"

"It gives us about two months to get to actually know each other, and connect or whatever," replied Zora, ignoring Kirsch's question. "Well, that means I guess I'll go on short missions for now."

"Wait, what are you saying?"

"Life is too short, pretty boy," replied Zora, lazily smirking at Kirsch. "I'm saying we give this a shot."

Kirsch stilled. "You do realize what you're asking of me." Zora was proposing so much more than going out on a few dates. Zora was actually proposing. Because they both knew that if things worked out, they'd want to be together, which meant that Kirsch would effectively defy his Father and the House Vermillion rules, which meant that Kirsch would definitely be kicked out of his family. And knowing Mimosa, she'd come with him. It was a lot to ask, after years of Kirsch spending his life playing it safe to protect himself and Mimosa.

"I do."

"Do you really?"

Zora snapped, clearly hurt that Kirsch was hesitating. "Nevermind, then, if yer too scared to lose yer position as a royal for some orphan commoner like me…"

"Shut up, that's not what I meant," argued Kirsch, standing up, and kind of yelling. "This decision, my decision, your decision, our decision, just doesn't affect me, asshole! This is about Mimosa too, alright? I know I'm a bad older brother, but I can't leave her to face him by herself. I can't ask Mimosa to give up her life as a princess for my own selfish desires!"

Zora stood up and Kirsch sometimes forgot that he was an intimidating figure when Zora wasn't playing a lazy, nonchalant bastard. "Face who?"

Kirsch snapped his mouth shut.

Frowning, Zora said, "Sorry that was intrusive of me. But just know that I get it. You and Mimosa are a package deal. I don't mind."

Kirsch softened a bit and said, "It's a lot to ask of you, too, Zora."

The red head plopped back down on the couch and leaned back. "No, it's not. And if we don't work out, if ya need someone to look after Mimosa, I'd do it anyway."

"Oh," said Kirsch, softly.

"So, what's your answer?"

Kirsch prayed that Mimosa would understand and said, "Okay, let's do this."

Kirsch lasted all of a month before he was truly head-over-heels irrevocably in love forever and ever with Zora Ideale and he regretted none of it.

"_I'm sorry, please say that again, brother, I think I misunderstood you." _

"Mimosa," said Kirsch. "Don't make me repeat myself. You heard me." Kirsch was standing in the Wizard King's office with the de-aged Julius, his cousins Fuegoleon and Nozel, and Marx, who was using his powers to let Kirsch speak to Mimosa, who had three more months of training in the Heart Kingdom. The Spade Kingdom took over the Diamond Kingdom and steadily approached the Clover Kingdom's borders, so it wasn't like Kirsch and Zora (who was standing in the corner, arms crossed) was able to go to speak to Mimosa in person.

"_I've been gone for three months, brother! What the heck happened in that time? Oh! My God! Noelle, did you hear that?" _

Noelle's voice was heard. It would figure that the two would share a room, being so far from home. _"Yeah. Perhaps you should hurry this up before Asta comes barging in here and things get more embarrassing." _

Kirsch already said what he needed to say, but he needed to hear that Mimosa was on board with it.

Thankfully, Fuegoleon interjected. "Mimosa, this is imperative that you understand what Kirsch is asking of you."

Mimosa looked thoughtful. _"Kirsch, I don't know why you think you need my permission to be happy with Zora, but you have it. As for the consequences…despite the fact that you annoy me, I'd happily be in exile instead of having Father breathing down my neck. We have homes and people that really care about us, so let us be happy, Brother."_

"Thank you, Mimosa. Love you."

"_I've got to go, but I love you, too, Big Brother."_

With that the image of Mimosa was gone and silence befell the room. Kirsch had been hesitant to go to Fuegoleon and Nozel for help, but Zora convinced him that his older cousins weren't terrible and would understand why. The two were scarily supportive in their own ways.

Fuegoleon broke the silence, "I don't agree with the outcome once we talk to Grandfather, Uncle and my Father. You and Mimosa will always be family to me, Leo and Mereo."

"It's the same for my siblings and me, Kirsch," said Nozel, agreeing with Fuegoleon's assessment.

Kirsch replied, "Thanks, Fuegoleon, Nozel."

"Considering that, Fuegoleon is about to piss off the Vermillion family too," said Julius. It was still so weird to see him so young and still so authoritative. "And Nozel is going to piss off the Silva family. You're in good company, Kirsch."

Kirsch raised an eyebrow.

"Babe, you are so dense sometimes," snickered Zora. "Captain Fuegoleon's engaged himself to a commoner woman, one of Wizard King's right-hand women. And Captain Nozel's been seeing Captain Dorothy. Yeah, that's right, Braids, I saw you."

"Nozel, really, my captain?"

"…Shut up."

The fallout from rejecting his arranged marriage and telling his Father that he was in a relationship with Zora was surprisingly not as bad as Kirsch expected. His grandfather was the one who actually (a shock really to everyone) argued that "If Kirsch found his soulmate, what is there to do but accept it?" Granted, his Father and Kirsch almost came to blows over Mimosa, but Kirsch won that battle of wills. Mimosa may have been a Magic Knight, but she was still only sixteen and needed someone to look after her on the sidelines.

Officially kicked out of the Vermillion House, but unofficially still a member because their quiet Grandmother intervened after all was said and done to put her foot down. So, Kirsch and Mimosa will still get a stipend from the family coffers and invites to family gatherings. It could have been a lot worse.

"Oi, you're thinking too much again," complained Zora, poking Kirsch in the forehead roughly.

Kirsch swatted him away. They were in the kitchens at the Coral Peacock Headquarters, in the evening after everyone went to sleep, just enjoying each other's company. Well, Kirsch thought, he had better enjoy Zora's company, after all, Kirsch risked a lot to be with him.

"What's in your head, pretty boy?"

Kirsch rolled his eyes and threw a biscuit at Zora's head, which didn't go well since he caught it. Teasingly, Kirsch said, "Nothing, but you, dearest."

"Ah, gross, you have poor taste in guys," responded Zora, glibly.

"You're terrible," responded Kirsch.

"And you love me anyway."

Kirsch smiled and earnestly said, "Yes, I do. I love you forever and ever."

~fin


End file.
